Feb. 26 (UPI) — The funeral procession of former Hamas hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young sons drew thousands of people in Israel on Wednesday.
Large crowds lined the streets in Rishon LeZion and many cried while holding Israeli flags with many carrying orange balloons and wearing orange clothing symbolizing the red hair of the Bibas children.
Bibas was 32 and her children Ariel and Kfir were 4 years old and nearly 9 months respectively when taken at Nir Oz kibbutz during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
She appeared terrified holding her children in a video of her abduction.
When Hamas returned the bodies it said they had been killed during Israeli airstrikes. But according to an Israeli autopsy report, the children had been murdered, their bodies mutilated to make it look like they were wounded from bombing.
The Bibas family condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for releasing graphic details of the children’s deaths.
“This is outright abuse of a family that has already been enduring hell for 16 months,” Ofri Bibas said.
At the Bibas family funeral, she said Netanyahu’s government could have saved the Bibas family but “preferred revenge.” She said the government prioritized destroying Hamas over negotiating a hostage release earlier.
Shiri Bibas’ body was returned on Monday after Israel said DNA testing showed one of the bodies Hamas returned claiming it was Shiri Bibas actually wasn’t her.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called it a “shocking and horrifying violation” in an X statement. The identities of the children’s bodies were confirmed by DNA testing.
